Policy Priorities

My Priorities

• Saying No to the Fourplex Plan - instead, investing in mixed-use growth in the City’s identified 68 Urban Village sites downtown and along major transit corridors throughout the city, as envisioned in our 2020 General Plan. 
• Increasing the feasibility of Urban Village development by pre-approving project locations, design guidelines, traffic and environmental mitigations and other project elements to streamline the permitting process. Permits should take weeks or months, not years to attain. We should also reduce requirements for on-site retail space within residential developments  when the local market can’t support it. 
• Making City Hall accountable for providing high-quality service to those who want to build housing and bring jobs to our city by setting customer service goals in our Planning & Building Code Enforcement (PBCE) Department and creating a Money-Back Guarantee on processing fees when the city is late on permit review or inspections.
• Investing in people and innovation to bring costs down through workforce development initiatives like the City’s Public Works Academy and San Jose Works as well as offering faster permitting and rebate options for projects with reduced timelines
• Read my Medium Post here, and read articles here: San Jose Mercury News, San Jose Spotlight

Policy Accomplishments

Smart Growth San Jose 

• On August 4, 2021, I unveiled my plan to address the upcoming Council discussion on Opportunity Housing. My plan includes densifying our urban core and transit corridors to build the housing we need, specifically focusing on the City’s identified 68 urban village sites and those sites identified in the City’s General Plan 2040. At the same time we need to invest in getting the cost of housing down through innovative technologies and process improvements.

My Priorities

• Constructing cost-effective prefabricated modular housing at scale on public land across the City and County to provide housing for those on our streets. We can do this by tapping into existing County and State funds, using our Measure E funds wisely, and securing local philanthropic dollars. We can and must address homelessness for less than $850,000 per door. 
• Advocating to the County to expand mental health and addiction treatment with an emphasis on hard-to-address cases that may require involuntary support. This includes implementing the recommendations of the Laura’s Law Advisory Committee. It is not humane, safe or cost-effective to allow severely addicted and mentally ill people to live and die on our streets. 
• Investing in job training, job placement and local organizations that provide pathways to employment and financial self-sufficiency, especially in relation to the Clean San Jose initiative to put 100 unhoused individuals to work beautifying the City’s illegal dumping and blight hot spots.
• Preventing displacement and eviction by implementing the city’s anti-displacement strategy and leveraging state and federal dollars for rental assistance through the City’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program.

Policy Accomplishments

Compassionate San Jose - Bold Housing Solutions

• On Wednesday September 29, 2021, I co-authored a memorandum to the Rules & Open Government Council Subcommittee that was approved, requesting the City Manager: 
  • Have 1,000 pandemic-era emergency interim housing community (EIHC) units and 300 Project Homekey motel units under construction or completed by December 2022. 
  • Report on the progress of housing 1,500 San Jose residents by December 31, 2022 and providing a total of 2,300 new permanent and transitional units serving homeless individuals that will be under development or construction by December 31, 2022.
  • To Continue to partner with Councilmember Jimenez to temporarily locate a “safe parking” RV site at or near the future police training facility in District 2.
  • Facilitate the implementation of drug treatment options.
  • Work with the County on all of the above.

Clean San Jose

• On September 29, 2021, I co-authored a memorandum to the Rules & Open Government Council Subcommittee that was approved, directing the City Manager to:
  • Expand employment opportunities for 100 unhoused individuals in cleaning and beautifying the City in high-need neighborhoods that have litter hotspots.
  • Report to the Council by November 2021 introduction of a monetary award for information resulting in the successful citation of illegal dumping, an update on the deployment of cameras at illegal dumping hotspots and an update on abandoned vehicle abatement efforts.

Housing Crisis Workplan (Adding Metrics) 

• On August 9, 2021, I sponsored a memorandum to the City Council that was approved to direct the City Manager to ensure that the next Housing Crisis Workplan report include: 
  • A metrics-based estimate of potential impact for each strategy prioritized within the workplan; 
  • An ongoing assessment of actual impact in terms of the identified metric(s) for each completed strategy; and 
  • Discussion of the overall prioritization of strategies based on estimated impact and learnings from recent implementation of the workplan. 

City Roadmap Priority Nomination No. NP10 - Encampment Management Strategy

• On February 24, 2021, I sponsored a memorandum for the Council Prioritization process that was ranked #1 by my Council colleagues to explore a comprehensive encampment management strategy for the City, including improving the on-ground conditions for unhoused residents living in encampments as well as creating setback requirements to improve the protection of and access to sensitive public spaces and community institutions such asschools, creeks, and trails.

GIS Mapping of Caltrans Sites for Emergency Interim Housing 

• On January 27, 2021, I brought forth a memorandum to the Rules & Open Government Council Subcommittee that was approved, requesting the City Manager: 
  • Conduct a citywide GIS analysis of all vacant properties in San Jose owned by Caltrans that are at least 1 acre in size where short-term emergency housing may be feasible; 
  • Present the findings of the analysis to the City Council no later than Spring 2021 and seek further Council direction at that time. 
• View the resulting map here

My Priorities

• Public Safety
  • Increasing police staffing to be closer in-line with other Bay Area cities and expand their impact by growing the Community Service Officer Program, Neighborhood Watch, Violence Interruption programs and other holistic approaches to community engagement and crime prevention.  
  • Increasing enforcement, use technology and strengthen penalties to make street racing and side shows a thing of the past. 
  • Partnering with the County to deliver non-law enforcement primary outreach to individuals in crisis, especially for mental health and addiction-related incidents.
  • Provide safe and enriching opportunities for our young people, including entry-level jobs and summer programs in our libraries. Investing in our children is one of the best ways to reduce poverty and crime in the long-run.   
  • Invest in core infrastructure and disaster preparedness programs like San Jose’s Community Emergency Response Teams Training (CERT) that empower our community to prepare for the next disaster.
• Beautification
  • Employing unhoused residents pick up trash, reduce weeds, and beautify blight hot spots.
  • Enforce our existing laws, especially related to illegal dumping and abandoned vehicles. 
  • Create a performance indicator dashboard for all 311 services so that all residents and city employees can easily understand how well we are responding to requests for service. Focus on service optimization for greater quality, reliability and customer satisfaction before expanding the services we offer.
  • Invest in cost-effective murals and public art as a deterrent in grafitti hotspots. 
  • Organize our community, block by block, to volunteer in monthly litter clean up and similar beautification activities. 

Policy Accomplishments

Clean San Jose

• On September 29, 2021, I co-authored a memorandum to the Rules & Open Government Council Subcommittee that was approved directing the City Manager to:
  • Expand employment opportunities for 100 unhoused individuals in cleaning and beautifying the City in high-need neighborhoods that have litter hotspots
  • Report to the Council by November 2021 introduction of a monetary award for information resulting in the successful citation of illegal dumping, an update on the deployment of cameras at illegal dumping hotspots and an update on abandoned vehicle abatement efforts.

Reducing Gun Harm, and the Public Burdens of Gun Violence 

• On June 25, 2021, I co-authored a memorandum that was approved by the City Council to exempt responsible gun owners who can attain a safety training certificate from the city as well as retain a state certified gun safe from the proposed insurance and fee requirements.

Getting Laura’s Law Right in Santa Clara County 

• On May 25th, Santa Clara County adopted Laura’s Law, a law that allows authorities to order mandatory psychiatric treatment for people with serious mental illness who refuse treatment.  
• I, along with many others before me, organized to advocate for the adoption of this law to ensure we both help our neighbors who need treatment to recover as well as protect the broader public. Thanks especially to my predecessor, former Councilmember Johnny Khamis for leading the initial charge on this. 
• View Matt’s op-ed in the Mercury News here.

Actions Related to Continued Exploration of Pension Obligation Funding Strategies 

• On May 11th, I sponsored a memo that was approved by the Council to direct the City Manager to evaluate the risks of the Pension Obligation Bond funding strategy in various non-favorable economic circumstances such as returns being lower than expected, economic recession, prolonged underperformance, and more.

My Priorities

• Safe and Reliable Water Supply 
  • Expanding our “Purple Pipe” water distribution system to reduce our dependence on imported water by increasing the use of recycled water at our parks and schools.
  • Fighting against unnecessary water rate increases driven by expensive public works projects that do not offer reliable water supply at a reasonable cost.
  • Working with the Santa Clara Valley Water District to negotiate an agreement for purified water expansion at the City’s Wastewater Treatment Facility. 
• Safe, Reliable and Clean Energy
  • Advocating to the Governor and State to reduce energy costs to ratepayers through reforms to the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA), the mechanism by which investor-owned utilities (IOUs) pass through legacy costs to Community Choice Aggregates (CCAs) like San Jose Clean Energy.
  • Maximizing the efficiency of public charge dollars to benefit green energy practices, such as helping residents, commercial properties and schools to convert to energy-efficient appliances. 
• Parks & Urban Forestry
  • Prioritizing maintenance of our parks.
  • Expanding parkland and decreasing the ratio of parks per resident.
  • Reducing harm to our parks from rodents and pests.
  • Expanding our Urban Canopy network through green development practices.
• Transportation Infrastructure
  • Prioritize ongoing maintenance of our transportation infrastructure (road pavement, bicycle lanes, bus stations, etc).
  • Provide mobility options to our seniors, students, disabled and vulnerable residents.
  • Ensure our traffic and transportation investments serve all of our residents in the most cost-effective ways

Policy Accomplishments

Budget Session 2021-2022: Secured Funding for Traffic Safety Programs in District 10 

• Earlier this year, I secured funding to help prevent speeding, street racing and sideshows from occurring in our neighborhoods:  
  • Secured $200,000 to install a round-a-bout at the intersection of Vista Park and Hillsdale. The neighborhood had been hit particularly hard by street racing and other incidents of “side-shows”. This project will prevent cars from attempting dangerous maneuvers in a major intersection so close to neighborhoods with families.  
  • Secured an additional $60,000 to install three separate pole-mounted radar signs throughout District 10. These devices have been proven to help reduce speeds along roadways by up to 5 – 10 miles per hour on average.  
• Traffic Study of Via Valiente / Rajkovich Way near Bret Harte and Leland 
  • I called on the Department of Transportation (DOT) to look into the many issues plaguing the neighborhoods surrounding Via Valiente and Rajkovich Way in the Almaden neighborhood. DOT conducted a virtual walk-a-bout with 60 neighbors to discuss the issues surrounding these roadways. Thanks to this input, DOT is working on a number of proposed solutions to present to the neighbors that may be funded in the 2022 budget cycle.  
• Advocacy to the Santa Clara Valley Water District to reduce rate increases
  • On May 6, 2021, Mayor Sam Liccardo published a medium post and Op-Ed to the San Jose Mercury News that I advised on requesting the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors reduce rate increases to the proposed wholesale drinking water cost.

San Jose Water Rate Increases

• On April 23, 2021, the Mayor submitted a memorandum that I helped to co-write that requested information on ways for the City of San Jose to fight the proposed rate increases, inquire with SJWC as to future rate increases as well as publicly identifying all potential methods to mitigate rate increases for San Jose ratepayers.

My Priorities

• Generate Revenue through economic development by creating jobs and housing in dense urban corridors.
• Advocate against unjustified rate increases on all utilities to their respective regulatory agencies.
• Improving procurement processes for city contracts to ensure taxpayer dollars go to the best project applicants.
• Utilize and publish dashboards for every core city service to keep City hall accountable to the people.
• Learn from these dashboards to improve city processes and prioritize projects to improve efficiency and delivery of city services

Policy Accomplishments

Actions Related to Continued Exploration of Pension Obligation Funding Strategies 

• On May 11th, I sponsored a memo that was approved by the Council to direct the City Manager to evaluate the risks of the Pension Obligation Bond funding strategy in various non-favorable economic circumstances such as returns being lower than expected, economic recession, prolonged underperformance, and more.

Mayor’s June Budget Message for Fiscal Year 2021-2022

• On June 15, 2021, I sponsored a memo that was approved by the Council to adopt the Mayor’s June Budget Message for Fiscal Year 2021-2022 and subsequent recommendations from other Councilmembers. The memo also directed the City Manager to study and prepare proposals for better aligning the City’s annual budget planning process with measurable performance targets including the level, quality and equitability of core city services, as described in the background below.

City Roadmap Priority Nomination No. NP7 – Citywide Goals and Key Performance Indicator Dashboard 

• On February 24, 2021, I sponsored a memo to add a city roadmap prioritization item to create a publicly available dashboard that reflects the City’s top citywide goals and associated key performance indicators (KPIs) to be updated monthly. Unfortunately, this item was not prioritized. I will continue to push for this project to enhance transparency and fiscal accountability within city government through a publicly available dashboard that keeps city hall accountable to the people.